


Lovely

by angelkat



Series: [collection] Rival Argentica (2014-2018) [15]
Category: Angel Beats!
Genre: F/M, Idiots in Love, i'm just casually applying amian by making him call her nicknames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:28:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21802168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelkat/pseuds/angelkat
Summary: "Don't. Call. Me. Lovely. You idiot."/reposted Dec 15, 2019. not edited
Relationships: Naoi Ayato/Nakamura Yuri
Series: [collection] Rival Argentica (2014-2018) [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1570921
Kudos: 5





	Lovely

"Hey."

Yuri's school shoes ticked against the rooftop floor with every step she made towards him, filling the dark quietness of the cold night. If Naoi noticed her sudden arrival, he didn't give any clue that he had. Yuri stopped walking, just standing right behind the standing form of the black-clothed boy in front of her, his back bluntly facing her. He was just standing there, his hands falling to his sides, letting the cool night breeze ruffle the dark forest underneath his cap. They stayed quiet for a while, neither wanting to start a conversation. Tension grew thick, and she saw Naoi stiffen in front of her more and more by the minute; as if asking her to go away. Dissatisfied, Yuri smoothed her skirt—if only to distract herself from the uncomfortable silence that weighed down on them because of her unsolicited entry on his sphere of influence.

Silence.

She heaved a breath, released it; and that's when she decided to give up and _finally_ talk.

"Naoi."

He didn't look at her, pretending not to hear. Yuri walked more steps forward until she could see a glimpse of his face, and saw that he simply continued staring off at space, eyes unfocused and distracted. It's not like him to have that blank expression on his face—at least he had to smirk, or gloat, or spread out mischief by making fun of everything he saw around him, using his hypnotism to stupidly play around. But now, it's different; a _whole_ lot of different. That mischief was replaced by the bleak blankness of a soulless NPC. It's like the real Ayato Naoi had been permanently obliterated; only leaving an empty shell of a motionless body that didn't have more than one facial expression fixated on his face.

"Naoi?"

He still didn't look up. Yuri reddened—angered at herself for sounding so vulnerable in her shaky voice; embarrassed because of his ignorance as if making her feel stupid for coming here at all; and downright mortified at his pigheadedness. For three days he made everyone in the headquarters worried; wondering how long Naoi was going to take this. After a fight with Hinata, he sort of just disappeared off the face of the Earth; with only occasional trips to the headquarters for brief operational meetings. In the first few hours of his withdrawal, the SSS just thought that he needed time to let his boiling anger over Hinata settle down first—but when a day, a couple, a triad of days passed, they started to wonder how he was doing without the comforts of a home. He ignored every single one of them, even Otonashi, who tried to cheer him up by offering him a seat in a lunch table, just the two of them alone. Maybe he'd gone too far.

"Um, Naoi?"

He _still_ didn't budge, giving no indication he'd heard her at all. That empty look is _still_ plastered all over his face, and Yuri felt the urge to slap it off. She almost preferred seeing his smile, his smirk, his normal villainy, and even though she disliked seeing him hypnotize random members of the SSS, she would sacrifice Hinata's pride if only to see that mischief in his eyes again. Just…not this. Not this empty look. It scared her—almost as if Naoi was again the NPC they all knew back then, with no emotions, no heart, no humanity, just a doll who played by the rules.

"Naoi? Can you hear me?"

 _Still_ , after not a response, Yuri started to become paranoid and nervous inside, hands starting to grow cold and moisten with sweat. _Maybe…maybe he's become an NPC._ Ayato Naoi was a topnotch idiot with honors, yes. But no human, not even him, deserves to have a fate like Takamatsu—whose soul got devoured by a shadow and turned into a faceless humanoid, a robot forced to stay in this world for eternity, without ever a chance of finding his peace. Yuri tucked a strand of magenta hair behind her ear, looking up at the stars to distract the tingling that formed on her nose, tears rising into her eyes. _If Naoi became an NPC…_

She stiffened her voice onto her next words, replacing her softness with her commanding, leader-like one.

"Fine, if you don't talk, I'll just stay here and continue pestering you with my presence."

Naoi jerked his head to face her, narrowing his eyes. Finally, she saw anger flickering dangerously in those hazel eyes of his, as if they might catch fire any second now.

"Why are you here?"

Those were the first words he ever spoke in the last three days. It sort of made Yuri feel relief wash over her, knowing that this guy hadn't lost his mind yet; at least he showed her that he still had his emotions in him, and that he wasn't an NPC. Thank goodness—she had to sigh at that, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Although she felt his damaging words sting, her green eyes showing a glint of hurt, she cleverly hid it all with a sarcastic eye roll.

"To wish you a Merry Christmas."

Naoi dished out her sarcasm back to her just as perfectly, his blank eyes turning back to whatever he was looking at before. "Then do it fast and leave me alone."

Yuri's face creased at the onslaught of a frown. "You're going to regret saying that to me, Ayato Naoi."

"God _never_ regrets, Yuri Nakamura."

The girl laughed, and she let her hand land onto his stiff shoulder. _Finally,_ she got him to talk with his usual idiotic self. "Now _that's_ the Naoi I know."

"You know _nothing_ about me, Yuri Nakamura," he immediately bit back, full-fledged malice conquering his harsh tone. He disregarded the humor in her voice, shaking her comforting hand off of his shoulder. "Nothing."

That made her fall silent, her smiling face turning into a regretful one. This boy had issues, alright—and people with issues had to be approached cautiously, with precise care through choosing words. Anything might break him if she wasn't careful in conversing with him.

"Hey." She walked forward and faced him, although he still wasn't turning her way, blankly staring off at space. Yuri released a sigh, softening her voice. "I came here to say sorry for what Hinata did—"

"Then go back and tell him I don't forgive him," he cut off.

Yuri gulped at the malice of his tone. As a leader, she wasn't used to people interrupting her like that—usually they just wandered around with her orders placed on their backs. She wasn't really sure how to handle people who had the nerve to cut her short.

 _Especially_ Naoi.

"L-look, that wasn't entirely his fault. It's _your_ fault too, you know—"

"If you came here with intentions of helping," he interjected once again, "don't expect a thank you from me."

"As if I could hear that coming out of Your Jerkfuffness, Ayato."

He looked down at the ground, face stiffening, hands clenching, amber eyes burning with patience. "Leave me alone, Yurippe."

"Hey, I just came here! You didn't even say 'hello'—"

He jerked his head back to her the second time in five minutes, those spiteful eyes more angry than they'd ever been. " _Hello_ ," he seethed, teeth gritted. "Happy now?"

Yuri just put her hands behind her head, closing her eyes to feel a rush of cold wind that lifted her hair. "Huh. That's fast."

"What's fast?"

"Eh, I don't know, it was just so out of character for you to obey to me without questioning."

"What was I supposed to do? Argue with you and prolong this stupid conversation?"

"Kind of. That's where you excel, Naoi. Without stupid conversations with you in the headquarters, Hinata felt like he'd successfully Naoi-proofed the entire place and wouldn't stop gloating about it."

"That's tremendous comfort," he said with a sarcastic eye roll.

"You're very welcome."

They stayed silent for a while, Yuri refusing his command of sending her away. Tired of standing, she felt her feet involuntarily walk towards the railing of the rooftop, swinging her legs over it as she sat down. She looked back at the standing form of Naoi to urge him to do the same, tapping the empty space beside her for him to sit down too. After ignoring her, she rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Okay, I'll ask you this—just _what_ in the world is _wrong_ with you?"

He arched an eyebrow down at her, that blank expression still all over his face. "Don't act as if you don't know."

"Right, right, Hinata said some hurtful words at you and you became very emotional and decided to avoid the SSS for three whole days. Come on, everyone knows about _that_ ; I'm just asking _what's wrong_. I just…can't see the point of staying out here in three due days and fasting yourself just because of a small argument."

"A _small_ argument." He laughed bitterly, and just the sound of it made Yuri shiver with the amount of malice in it. Naoi can really be a villain if he wanted to—just like the villain that Yusa used to describe her. He finally gave in and sat down beside her, just the place where she'd urged him to sit down on. "The most terrible things often come in small doses, Yuri."

Yuri, again, placed a hand onto his shoulder, as lightly as she ever could—she didn't want to provoke him. "I'm your leader, Naoi. I can try to understand—"

" _You_ are _my_ leader?" That cold, empty laugh again. Like last time, she shrugged her hand off; and Yuri didn't understand it, but she kind of felt hurt for having her concern for him thrown in the trash just like that. "Who do you think you are, saying that in front of a god?"

"For the last time, you are _not_ god, Naoi." Yuri felt the signs of a smile pull into the muscles of her face. Slowly, she was succeeding in bringing the normal Naoi back to surface again—it was a nice sight to look at, no matter how mocking it may have looked. The important thing was, he was Naoi Ayato again.

"Can't we just get this over with? I know you don't usually trust me to keep your secrets with, but keeping it all to yourself will only make it worse. This meditation thingy you're doing, isolating yourself from all of us—it's not healthy. You can't push us away forever. You have to share what you feel to others so you're not the only one carrying all the burden of it."

He gave her a snide look, his golden eyes connecting with her cheerful emerald ones. "You're going all philosophical on me, Yurippe."

She returned the snide look, raising a superior eyebrow. "It's what makes me a leader." Then, looking up at the stars, a calm air washed over her face. "I'm not Otonashi. But if you don't feel like telling everything to him, you can tell them to me instead. I'll do my best to understand you."

He scoffed. "When pigs fly."

Yuri looked back at him, the calm expression on her face turning into exhaustion. She dramatically pressed her hands over her face, giving out a deadbeat sigh. "You know, you're making this difficult."

He smirked. "It's what makes me god."

It was her turn to scoff. "You're _not_ god. As a trained leader all these years, I have the ability to see right through ever member of my team—and that doesn't exclude you." She turned her head to look at him as if he was a difficult jigsaw puzzle yet to be arranged. "I'll figure you out—someday."

"I wouldn't let you in that easily, Yuri."

"If it would take me the hard way, then so be it."

He put his shaking head into his palm. "Your stubbornness needs serious help."

"Hey, I come prepared."

Naoi saw through her like she was a transparent glass. "Prepared, or outvoted?"

"Okay, busted," she admitted, flinging her hands onto the air. Back in the headquarters, all of them had agreed to send Yuri to try talking to him and bringing him out of the darkness of his solitude despite her protests. "But that's not the point, Naoi."

"This conversation _actually_ had a point?"

Her face contorted into one of genuine shock. "You didn't know?"

"Congratulations, you noticed."

Yuri frowned. "You like sarcasm, don't you?"

He turned to her in mock surprise. "How ever did you find out?"

"Okay, cut it out already."

"Don't you tell me to cut it, lovely."

She felt goosebumps rise with a vengeance onto her skin at the mention of the word. _Lovely_. The way it came out of his lips, the way the word perfectly charmed its path to match with his princely voice, the way he said it as if the word was made just for her and no one else. Suddenly she can't stop the firing of the words inside her head, resonating back and forth like a gong against her suddenly hollow skull.

He just called her lovely. He just called her lovely. He just called her lovely. He just called her—

 _Stop it._ Her face reddened, and she clutched down at the pleats of her skirt. She never felt this grateful towards the darkness of the night—thank goodness he can't see how her face suddenly turned as monstrously red as a honking huge tomato. _Stop feeling this way over him, stupid. Words are his specialty, remember? He's just mocking you. Don't tell me you actually like this feeling—oh please. You're too smart to fall for that._

Reddening like mad, she turned her head away from him, worried that her face was the precise color of her fuchsia hair. "D-Don't you _dare_ call me l-l-lovely, _idiot_."

He smirked. Oh, he dared.

"Lovely."

 _Oh, yeah?_ She thought. _Two can play at this game._ "Idiot."

"Lovely."

"Idiot."

"Lovely."

"Idiot."

"Lovely."

It's was Yuri's turn to slap her forehead with a palm. Neither wanted to give up. "Hinata's right. You _are_ a moron."

He smirked. "At least I don't cry over a pathetic clothespin."

"Hey, it isn't people's fault if they don't have hypnotic powers like you."

Naoi's yellow irises darkened, and he lowered his hat so that the shadow covered the sudden moistness filming his eyes. His mischievous tone disappeared, only to be replaced by a darker one. When Yuri looked at him, she noticed that the expression onto his face turned reflective, as if he was contemplating the fight he'd had with Hinata three days ago.

"It isn't my fault either," he said in barely above a whisper, "if _they_ start the fight."

Yuri put a hand onto his shoulder, firmer this time, refusing to have her concern thrown away again. "Naoi," she said, softening her tone as well. "Hinata regretted what he did. He didn't mean what he said to you, no matter how hurtful they might have been, the words just came out of his mouth. He said you're not the soulless human he thought you to be—he said he's sorry for saying that to you."

To Yuri's surprise, he didn't shake away her hand this time—so she set it more comfortably onto his shoulder, letting the weight of her hand rest on it more securely. The tension in Naoi's eyes slowly ebbed away as he contemplated her words. It seemed to comfort him, as her hand onto his shoulder felt his stiff demeanor to finally relax.

"You know," he started to say after seconds of silence, "you're…the only one who tried to come out here to talk to me."

Yuri looked up at him in a shocked kind of face, not expecting _those_ words to come out of his mouth. She stared at him, her own jade green eyes widening at the sight of him. She thought he was only capable of saying lightning-quick insults, offensive name-callings, and unpleasant remarks. But this one, this one was actually _empty_ of his usual sarcasm—gone was the scorn, the disdain, the impertinent mockery. Although his face was turned away in opposite direction from hers, she could see in the slight glint of his eyes his pure, genuine sincerity.

She gently lifted her hand from his shoulder, suddenly feeling timid and shy. She fiddled with her fingers anxiously, feeling self-conscious of herself with him just beside her.

"A…Ayato…," she started, unsure of what to say next in reply. "I-I—"

The moment was ruined when the cold wind brushed a feathery feeling that tickled her throat, rising up to her mouth, and bursting out of her as a hideous sneeze.

" _Achoo_! Argh!" Annoyed of the wind, she brusquely wiped off the slime from her nose with her sleeve before Naoi could turn around and laugh at her unsightly face. She pulled her knees to her chest, comfortably resting her chin as her arms wrapped herself around her. She rubbed her arms with her own hands, hoping to warm them from the cold. She turned to Naoi, who was shaking his head, obviously amused.

"What are _you_ laughing at?" Yuri bit back at him, her voice a little congested thanks to her suddenly blocked nostrils.

Naoi, unaffected by the spite of her voice, started to unbutton his black coat—still with that annoying smirk the size of Japan smacked dab in the middle all over his stupid face. "Delightful," he commented, a laugh rumbling all throughout from his body, the heat he emitted delicately mingling into hers. She started to feel comfortable talking with him, and she realized that…Naoi isn't _that_ bad as they all thought, after all. It was actually fun talking to him—and she never thought she'd actually enjoy a conversation with a blockheaded pinhead just like him.

She stared up at him, and Naoi smiled down when he realized she was gazing. She enjoyed getting lost into those amber eyes of his, the universe inside his golden orbs as lustrous as the night sky…

But then Yuri's eyes widened when she realized what she was thinking. She stubbornly jerked her head away from him, as redness touched her cheeks.

_Stop staring at him, you idiot._

Naoi laughed at her pathetic attempts of trying to hide her own blushing. He finally held out his black gakuran, revealing the wrinkled white polo shirt lying underneath. When Yuri turned at him, she found herself _staring_ again. She couldn't help was handing her his coat, his face staring straight through the space in front of him—his dark green hair brushing his face as the wind breathed on him. He looked… _weird_ without his black coat…

She cleared her throat, distracting herself from her own thoughts before they got any wilder. "What are you doing?"

Naoi was unruffled, still blankly staring at the air in front of him. "Do you want it or not?"

Yuri took one look at the gakuran he was holding out to her, and she released a warm puff of air, condensing into a mini cloud of moist at the cold atmosphere around them. "I just want to make sure there aren't any explosives in there or something."

He looked at her with an impatient expression. "Do you _want_ it or not?"

Yuri sighed, and although she didn't want to, she snatched the coat from out of his hand. Her eyes were closed in a stubborn kind of way, as if trying to tell him that she didn't need anything whatsoever if it came from him. As she put the coat around her, however, she felt warmth wash over her like a tidal wave of instant relief. She snuggled, pulling the coat closer to her, inhaling in Naoi's handsome smell of cloves…

Her eyes snapped open from the comfort she was falling into. She was horrified at herself. So his perfume smelled like clove. And she actually _noticed_ it.

She kept herself focused, trying to turn off all of her senses and keeping them from ringing around so noisily into her ears.

_Stop smelling his coat, idiot._

"You're very welcome, lovely," he said, breaking the silence with that sarcasm of his again. "Just don't get any ideas on telling anyone. I have a reputation to maintain."

She rolled her eyes. "Right, I was going to announce to the whole world how King Idiot turned into Prince Gentleman in a matter of seconds just because he handed me his grubby diaper-smelling coat to me."

He looked genuinely offended. "Excuse me, I do _not_ smell like diapers. I make sure to spray clove perfume on me for about every three hours—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, Prince Gentleman of the Kingdom of Idiots."

"A _godly_ gentleman, lovely. A godly gentleman."

She frowned, tired of reminding him that _he wasn't god whatsoever._ "You know, that's really getting on my nerves."

He smirked. "Glad to know I'm not getting old on that."

A silence settled on them, and unlike earlier, this was a comfortable one. Both of them sank into the peace, neither of them saying a word, but either of them smiling as they stared up at the stars. Yuri clutched the coat closer to her, enjoying the warmth that seemed to be coming from Naoi himself. After several minutes more of stillness, Yuri turned to Naoi.

"Ayato?" she said, her quiet voice getting easily carried away by the stronger winds as the night deepened.

Naoi looked down at her. "What?"

"I think…we should get back to the headquarters." She tried to bring it gently to him, so that he doesn't back away so violently like he tried to shoo her away earlier. "What do you say?"

"I…I don't think I can face Hinata yet." His eyes darkened once again, just at the mere idea of it. "I'll let my anger subside a little, and wait till I'm ready to—"

"So what are you saying, you're going to mope around out here and avoid us for the rest of eternity?" Yuri stood up, hands still gasping the coat around her. She looked down at him, her eyes boring holes into his.

"I said I'm going to wait till I—"

"Well, I can't wait anymore!"

Yuri suddenly snatched the cap from his head, causing Naoi to turn around to look at her in shock.

_No one dares snatches anything from god._

"Hey! What do you think are you doing?"

Yuri danced her way away from him, enjoying herself by twirling around with a singsong voice as she waved Naoi's cap around. "I got your _ca~ap_! I got your _ca~ap_!" she sang, teasing him.

Naoi stood up, walking towards her as if steam might burst out from his ears. _No one DARES tease me like that._ "Give it right back to me, Nakamura!"

She stubbornly put her hands onto her hips, sticking out her tongue at him. "Not until you follow me back to the headquarters."

Naoi walked towards her with his growing smirk, undeterred by her warning. "Come, now," he said, almost mockingly, "you're not _that_ stupid to dare play around with me, are you, Yurippe?"

She immediately saw what was coming next. She let her hand rest onto the gun she kept behind her back, and pulled it out, pointing it to Naoi. "Don't you dare use your hypnotism on me, or I'll shoot."

Nevertheless, he still hypnotized her. The next thing she knew, Naoi was there in front of her, laughing his head out as _he_ twirled around in the air _her_ gun. She looked at her hand which previously held the her gun, and was shocked to know that she, Yuri Nakamura, the fearless leader of the mighty Afterlife Battlefront, had actually fallen for one of the Prince of Idiots' stupid tricks again.

"Tsk, tsk," he taunted, a wide grin spreading out of his face a he straightened the hat that was now back on its usual place onto his head. "You're out of guns, Nakamura. You're defenseless now."

"Fine!" she said, anger taking over her face. She was defenseless, and _in front_ of an _idiot_. This was unacceptable. This idiot deserved a satisfying super kick in the face, marked in there forever like an angry red stamp.

And she was going to do just that.

She tackled him to the ground, knocking his cap out of his head.

"H-hey!" said Naoi, who tried pushing her scratching nails away from his face. "Woman, get _off_ of me!"

"I will _never_ be defenseless in your behalf, Naoi, and I'm going to make you learn that lesson the hard way! Guns don't matter—I'll just use my bare hands if I have to—"

They were interrupted by a loud voice.

"Fujimaki! Why are you _covering_ my eyes? I wanna see!"

It was Oyama.

"You don't need to see," said a horrified Fujimaki, his face a contortion of shock as he observed the two of them doing wild gestures on the floor. "It's x-rated!"

Yuri and Naoi stopped in their struggles of killing each other, their heads turning to the source of the voice. At the door stood Fujimaki, Oyama, Matsushita, and Otonashi, gaping at the ghastly sight of Yuri on top of a coatless Naoi, whose head lacked his cap and hair just as disheveled. Unwanted images flashed into their minds all the more when they saw Naoi's coat thrown away from Yuri's side.

"Y-Yurippe…" started Matsushita, unable to find the words. "What the _hell_ are you two doing?"

"Er…should we, uh, turn around and give 'em some privacy?" Otonashi asked awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

Yuri and Naoi looked at each other, reddening at the same time—but Naoi managed to turn his embarrassment into a smirk as soon as he realized that Yuri was getting more and more uncomfortable of their awkward position. Yuri staggered onto her feet, and started to brush some imaginary dirt off of her clothes to distract everyone else from her oh-so-crimson red face. She turned at the foursome at the door, who started to imitate Naoi's smirk to aggravate her reddening face even more.

"N-No! You g-g-g-guys, it's—it's n-n-not what you t-think we're _doing_!"

Oyama pushed away Fujimaki's hand from his face, and was disappointed to see that the action had stopped. "Aww! I didn't see!"

Yuri felt blood rush to her face, which threatened to burst any moment now. "There was _nothing_ to see, Oyama! You hear me? NOTHING!"

Naoi had gotten up from the floor, and he was straightening his hat when he started to approach her. There was a mischievous smirk onto his face, the usual.

"We got into a _little_ mischief, and, I must say, Yuri and I had _quite_ a pleasurable time."

"NO! Don't listen to him! WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING OF THE SORT!" Yuri yelled, making dramatic arm gestures all over the air.

Fujimaki, Matsushita, and Otonashi only snickered, obviously not buying any of it. Oyama was genuinely confused, not understanding any of it. When Yuri turned back to look at Naoi, she saw him holding his head up high, a hand over his cap, his eyes closed, a self-satisfied smile playing on his lips. She just felt the urge to slap him onto the head so hard his skull would break and his brain would splatter all over the floor so she could mercilessly trample on it with every ounce of rage she has, but she thought better and tried to explain it to the newcomers.

"We were only—"

"—doing _something_ unspeakable," Fujimaki finished for her, releasing a smirk of his own. "Ooh, I wonder what _that_ something is, you naughty little kids."

She might as well have been boiling water in a madly squealing kettle. "Shut up, you idiots, or I'll dig those dirty brains out of your skulls!"

"Calm down, lovely," said Naoi, who had put his hand over her shoulder. "You're smarter than to let them get to your nerves."

She turned to look at him with as much spite as she could, her face having that anime effect where her eyes turn demonic and spiky teeth start to peek out of her angry mouth, towering over a suddenly tiny Naoi, the atmosphere around her turning an obnoxious red.

"Don't. Call. Me. Lovely. _You idiot_."


End file.
